


The Great and Wonderful Dr. W.D. Dadster

by TopazShadowwolf



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Mild Language, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-08-14 11:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8011672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TopazShadowwolf/pseuds/TopazShadowwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was clearly the most accomplished monster in the underground. There was not one soul who did not know my name and everything I had provided. I had worked marvels above ground and even more after the humans trapped us, monster kind, under the mountain. Being the great scientist I am, and through my magnificent work, I had brought hope of some kind of life in this prison.<br/>	Many times monsters would ask and wonder, of all the things I had created, what was my greatest. Of course, the CORE was on the top choices on almost everyone’s list. Though my list had another creation on the top, two actually. Two things I had created that were far greater than anything else I have made...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I HAVE AN IDEA!

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, here we go. First chapter of my Dadster fic. This goes along with The Door, starting before the events of The Door and then during. But the focus is on Gaster and you don’t need to read the other fic to enjoy this one. And you don’t need to read this to fully enjoy The Door either… but I’d recommend reading it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I have a new beta reader! And this one is better at grammar and spelling! (Hurray!) Example: She pointed out to me I had assistance instead of assistant... very embarrassing. So ch 1&2 are now fixed and more readable!

Gaster looked around the corner, making sure that one of the plethora of assistants, that Asgore has provided him, were nowhere in sight. The king of monsters seemed convinced that if he supplied Gaster with all the help he needed that would keep the scientist on track. But now there were so many it actually had a near opposite effect. They could work on the “important” stuff, leaving time for him to do whatever he wants. But now these assistants seem dead set on policing him instead; because the king asked them too.  **Truly** , they needed to reconsider where their loyalties should lie.

And the worst part of it is that there were so many of them! In fact, the king just hired yet another one today. Gaster had no idea what to do with that one so he assigned her to “The Space Program.” He wondered how long it took the poor fool to find out there was no space program and just wander off home to collect her checks by mail. Also, how long will Asgore sign those checks? What would a bunch of monsters trapped under a mountain do with a space program anyway?

Okay, yeah, sure, Gaster might, kinda, sorta have a tendency to invent things that, well, not even he really knew what they were for. But he had ideas! PLANS! And he was not about to let some meddling intern, or government plant, distract him with the king’s pre approved activities.

Luckily for him, he had designed this building and only released the blueprints he wanted people to see. The real blueprints now only existed in his mind as he burnt the physical copies. (He was laughing maniacally when he did that, incase you were curious.) Which was a good thing, it meant he could seal himself away, undisturbed, for days.

He walked into a hallway, listening carefully to make sure he wasn’t being followed, before opening up the false wall and entering his private sector of the lab. Straightening his black lab coat, he smiled and started to stroll down the dark hall, happy with himself for escaping unseen. There was a soft, ambient glow as he extended his hand to light his way with magic. Finding his private lab he strode in and flicked a switch to light the room. Now, to get down to business.

Two ethereal hands appeared and floated near a chalkboard to write and clean away thoughts as they cross his mind or are dismissed. Meanwhile he paced from one side of the room to the other. He found he did his best thinking when pacing. It also helped to talk aloud. It got the ideas out so they didn’t cloud his thoughts.

“Okay,” he started, his hands starting to move as he spoke. He spoke a language most monsters didn’t understand. It was a skeleton language, really. It takes effort and magic for skeletons to produce sounds and even more concentration to make those sounds into understandable words. Skeletons don’t have those fancy-smancy vocal folds most other monsters have. 

Practically everything dealing with skeletons is answered simply by “magic.” How do they talk? Magic. How do they eat? Magic. How do they walk? Magic. How do they stay together? Magic. How do they get those little lights in their eyes? (Seriously, dude?) How do they reproduce? (… okay, I’m done, you’re clearly not getting the point if you need to ask.)

So, skeletons mostly spoke in “hands,” a language that dealt very little in actual verbal words but more in words made by signing. Much like the sign language of humans but with half formed verbal words and more dramatic hand movements. (Much to his own pleasure, he has beamed a few interns with his hands while talking.) It was it’s own language and the one he preferred to use when brainstorming, alleviating the need to focus on making fully formed words out of sounds. (And luckily for you, I’m here to translate.)

“The big problem we face, that the king wants me to fix, is: The Barrier. And I still have no idea how to fix that. I mean, it’s not like humans are just going to fall into the mountain for us to collect their souls. So, I have time to figure that out. But there is a bigger problem,” He stopped and announced, “What the hell is going to keep the humans from killing us or imprisoning us AGAIN if we do escape?!

“I mean, sure, getting freed is all good and all; but, it will be a waste of effort if we all end up dead or back where we started. Thus, I am about to reopen ideas I had back when I was a child. A LIVING WEAPON!”

He walked over to some file cabinets and yanked open a draw, “It may take a long time to accomplish, after all,” He turned and looked at the chalkboard, “my original plans were in crayon and were highly unrealistic. I mean, look at this… actually…” He looked at the drawing of a dragon-y like skull with big threatening eyes. It had a bifurcated bottom jaw that could swing open to shoot out raw magic. He knew that was what it was firing because he had the forethought to write “MAGIC” with an arrow pointing to the poorly drawn beam. (It could've been mistaken for tree. Gaster was never known as an artist.)

With a shrug he announced, “It could be a plan D, or, well, B… it is really cool so I’ll make it eventually. BUT NO! There is something better I thought of instead.” While digging through the file he found the notes he was looking for. The ones he made while in college and bored with class work.

“It came to me while I was on my morning walk to the lab. As far as I know, I am the last skeleton alive. The humans killed my wife before we had a child…,” that hurt, why did he have to bring that up, “ANYWAY” he bellowed, wanting to move on, “I have a theory. I could make a clone of myself and give it all the best ‘ANTI-HUMAN MAGITECH’ I can think of.”

Nodding, he looked at the board, the only assistants he really needed were hard at work, converting thoughts to words, formulas, and images. “My clone, naturally, should be tall! I am average height for a skeleton. My father was undoubtedly short BUT my mother was tall. So, I will need to narrow down on that gene to ensure this weapon of human destruction is capable of proper intimidation techniques. After all, the best punch is the punch that never actually was thrown but is sure as hell talked about!”

“SO HE NEEDS TO BE INTIMIDATING! Maybe some spikes? Naw, that sounds dumb… spikes and horns are nice, but would just look… weird and beastial. My goal is not to make a beast but a…,” what was he making? A slight hint of doubt slide into his mind, but he shook it off, “LIVING WEAPON! That will also be a skeleton, AND IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE A SKELETON, just a really tall and… angular. I have a softer look compared to my father who had that impressive square chin. I need that for this clone! BUT ENOUGH OF THE AESTHETICS! How am I going to make this clone?” That was the real question. He looked over his notes, grabbed books, looked over formulas and paced for a good 5 hours.

He needed to make a body and the hardest part, a soul. Granted he could use some of himself as a starting point, but how do you take a small bit of a soul and make it into a full soul?  The growing a body didn’t seem that hard. Monster bodies don’t have much to them anyway, “NO! WAIT!” He turned to the board, “He needs to be sturdy so he can actually fight a human. If he is all soft and squishy, like most monster are, he’d just die in one hit.”

“And he needs to be smart and sensible… and… not ambitious enough to be inclined on taking over. I think the king would object if I make something that ends up dethroning him,” Gaster rubbed his chin.

Time passed, a lot of time passed. So much so, he lost track of how long he had been hidden away in his private lab. The only indicator that it had been more than a day was how hungry he had become. Granted he had snacks scattered throughout the entire wing, but his body was craving real food. That usually meant he’s been sealed away for around three days. Welp, it was about time he show his face again, make sure no one gets too suspicious. Besides, this growing a soul thing was quite the road block. Every way he looked at it, he couldn’t find a way around it. Perhaps, it is something he could trick his “employees” into helping him with?

“I shall take a break, and come at this with refreshed eyes!” he said as he hit the palm of his left hand with the thumb side of his right fist.

With care he exited his private area of lab. Seeing no one around and hearing nothing, he put his hands in his coat pockets and strut down the hall. He had heard that humans consider pride as a sin and he agreed. Pride can drag down some of the greatest of people. And yet, he, the magnificent monster he is, was very guilty of it.

First, he took a shower, dressed in clean clothes, and then made himself a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Bad mistake! Horrible, horrible mistake. The peanut butter was a pain to deal with as it stuck itself to the inside of his mouth. And the honey was no help either. But at least it tasted good, so that was a consolation. He grabbed a thermos and put some coffee in it to help wash down the sandwich.

Not one to just sit around when ideas were brewing, he carried his lunch through the facility. Chuckling he stepped into one of the labs, “AH! My busy little bees, buzzing around!” He called to his many assistants. They visibly grimaced, “I have put some thought into the whole barrier breaking business! So, who wants a change from this lab and join my hive?”

Several jumped at the option; after all, what better honor could there be than to work  **directly** under Dr. W.D. Gaster himself? He declared them to be team B, saying it was for barrier. He took them to lab 1-B to do their work. (Everyone of them believed it was part of the bee puns from before.) 

The lab had not be used for a while, and needed to cleaned up first. Gaster can not work in a dirty or dusty lab. Once that task was done he gathered everyone together, “NOW TO WORK! The barrier must be brought down if we are ever going to see the sky again. So, first we must figure out the nature of this barrier. We have lived under its tyranny for several years and we still don’t fully understand it.

“Human magic was always inferior to monster magic, so this entrapment has come to be a surprise. REGARDLESS, we know we could use seven human souls to bring it down. But, alas, we lack that.”

“Sir,” One assistant started, but Gaster ignored him.

“Without human souls to escape we must find some other way. We know human souls are stronger than monster souls. So what we must do is find some way to SUPERCHARGE monster souls. Or, what I think is more reasonable, create an artificial human soul.”

“Sir,” the same one tried again. Gaster glared at him and continued.

“But without a human soul to study, this will be a challenge. We will have to take what we know of humans-”

“Sir,” The assistant tried yet again, despite shrinking back from the glare.

“ **W H A T ?!  W h a t  i s  s o  i m p o r t a n t  y o u  m u s t  i n t e r r u p t  m e** ?!” Gaster’s voice echoed threateningly. A talent that skeletons have thanks to their lack of vocal folds. When it is magic making your voice you can play with how it sounds all you want.

Shifting back, the armless assistant cleared his throat as he tried to overcome fear to speak again, “A-a human fell underground.”

“WHAT?!” Gaster was shocked and looked around the room, expecting this to be some sort of prank.

“A human child feel down into Home...old Home? Asriel found it and took it to the King,” A braver assistant continued.

“GREAT SCOTT! WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?!” Gaster threw his hands up in the air.

“Well, you disappeared around the time the news came, so we figured you heard and went out to study it.”

His arms fell to his sides and Gaster let out a long sighed, “I see.” He thought for a moment then smiled big, “REGARDLESS, this is great news! I MUST GO AT ONCE AND SEE IF WE CAN BORROW THE SOUL!”

“Sir,” the first assitance said, wincing as he did.

“Yes?” Gaster replied, this time deciding not to ignore him.

“Um, well, you see.”

“DON’T TELL ME THE HUMAN KILLED ASGORE!” Gaster yelled, his eyes glowing purple as he felt his magic flare.

“N-no, uh, well…,” The assistant stuttered.

“The king adopted the kid,” a lanky cat like man said, sounding disinterested.

“Wait, what?” Gaster was confused. The words didn’t fit right.

“The king and queen adopted the human,” The cat tried again.

“That doesn’t... what?”

“They felt bad for it and wanted to give it a home.”

“But,” Gaster said, flabbergasted (or flabber’gaster’ed) by this news, “BUT IT IS A HUMAN!”

“Yeah, but it is a kid, they don’t want to kill a kid.” The cat sighed.

Gaster twitched, anger building in him. How many skeleton children did the humans kill? How many young monsters died at the hands of humans? And yet the king and queen would sheltered that potential murderer? It is common knowledge that all humans are driven by their love for LOVE. Raising that, that  **thing** would only lead to monster kinds downfall.

“Well,” he said quietly, thinking. He had to come up with some plan, “Well.” The rulers weren’t going to just kill the kid because he told them, “Well.”

“I think you broke him,” a very muscular, albeit short, monster said while leaning over to the cat one.

“Well, we can still ask to study the child,” Gaster raised a hand into the air, pointing his index finger up as an ‘ah-ha’ moment struck, “After all, we have tools now to scan souls, and we could collect a blood sample. The human is simply a living soul container! ALL OF YOU THINK OF SAFE TESTS WE CAN RUN! I SHALL OBTAIN APPROVAL FROM THE KING!”

And with that he marched out of the room.


	2. I HATE BRATS!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. W.D. Gaster discovers that he hates children who severely lack discipline... especially human children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have made an ask blog for Gaster, so feel free to stop by and ask him a question: http://tgawdwddadster.tumblr.com/  
> Since I really have nothing else to add comment wise, I will instead leave you with this little piece of quality entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edAqj036WWY

Time passed silently in the throne room as Gaster waited with bated patience for the King to respond. He had calmly expressed his desires and now it was up to the goat monster standing before him to make the decision. As the seconds ticked, the scientist got a better look at what the larger monster was wearing. It was hardly anything in which a man of his status should be adorned. It was a sweater roughly calling him a father in a shade of pink that clashed with his other clothes.

Gaster would sooner die than wear something so… asinine as that.

“You want to do what to Chara?” Asgore asked. Well, that was not the response the good doctor was hoping for.

With a resigned sigh, Gaster put his bony fingers together in a steepling manner as he tried again, “In order to break the barrier we need seven human souls. But we don’t have that, and who knows if that will even be a possibility? Now, we technically have one, but I understand that the human is your charge and thus living. And I also understand if you will not wish to use the soul as you have come to care for the child. Lastly, but not any less importantly, by no means, would I harm the child. Last thing I need is your wife, the beautiful Queen Toriel, trying to rip my head off. But, if I could examine the human’s soul it would help us find a possible alternate method of destroying the barrier. Any tests I run will be harmless, of course, and mostly painless. Though drawing a small blood sample will, understandably, involve a little pain.

“But if I may be allowed to examine the child I should be able to understand more about human souls. Our current knowledge of them is severely lacking. So far we just know they persist far longer after death than ours. Why and what other differences may exist are all unknown.”

The large goat monster frowned. At that moment Gaster noticed that Asgore was beginning to look older than he remembered him being. The boss monster was slowly aging as his son grew older, and his beard was getting longer. The king’s large paw stroked that beard in thought then he sighed, “I will discuss this with my wife, but I see no reason why that would be impossible. After all, as long as nothing happens to Chara it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Gaster thought quickly, putting his hands behind his back as he bowed, “Thank you, sire. Oh, and one thing also to consider. By conducting these tests while the child is healthy, we may have a better idea of what to do if the child ever falls ill. Currently we know very little about human anatomy and even less about their physiology.”

Asgore nodded, “I understand,” he then gestured toward a room further in, past the throne. “Are you sure you don’t have time for tea?”

“Yes, I’ve got a lot to do to prepare for your… human child’s visit.”

Well that went better than expected, but then, it still hasn’t been passed by Toriel. Asgore may be king, but Toriel usually has final say on matters like that. It wasn’t until the next morning a Royal Guard showed up with a message from the king. The team of scientists were informed that running the tests will be fine, and if there was a time that will be best for them to come by. “Tell them anytime!” Gaster had told the guard happily.

Around noon, that same day, Gaster was balancing a pencil across the frontal bone of this skull as he thought. He had grown bored of learning about human blood vessels, in particular veins, from an old human anatomy book he found. It was very informative, but still, humans were so different, it will be interesting to actually see what the author was explaining first hand. With it no longer holding his interest, his mind had drifted back to his personal project. 

Monster souls are weak, but human souls are strong. What if he could somehow safely extract some elements from the child and use that with some of his own soul. That could work, but how could he do that?

Monster souls can be easily examined and studied, but human souls are hidden behind all that flesh, muscle, and squishy matter. While he was sure a soul scanner could easily work on a human as it would a monster, collecting radiating magic is a different story. The fact their souls are trapped behind all that physical matter is why they were bad at magic in the first place. Unless they train for years, they can’t get magic out past their bodies; unlike monsters, who can release magic freely.

It would require some sort of machine that could draw out the radiating energy of the soul then condense it. But the most interesting thing is what elements make up a human soul. Perseverance, patience, courage, integrity, justice, and kindness are the traits that make up a monster in varying amounts.

“Sir.”

Humans were so different than monsters, they must contain several other traits or lack some of these elements. They definitely didn’t have kindness. And you could nix integrity too. He’ll admit they would have courage and (regrettably) perseverance; but, considering their cruelty, he highly doubted justice.

“Sir.”

He would expect to see hatred and meanness. Thinking on this, Gaster considered his time during the war and what experiences he had with humans. Remembering how stubborn they are, he considered it could be a trait.

“Sir.”

“WHAT?! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY?” Gaster yelled, looking over at the assistants. The pencil fell from his head to the floor.

The assistants stepped back and cleared his throat, clearly not wanting to answer that question, “Queen Toriel is here with the human.”

“OH! Why didn’t you just say so?” He said, springing to his feet, “Please pick up that pencil and gather the supplies. I will meet you in the upper lab!”

Now, it is important to note there are two halves of the facility. The upper area that is used for visitors, which is filled with small displays of what the scientists are up to. It’s purely for show, and every intern and assistant takes a turn doing tours of this area. The monster schools particularly like bringing the children by to show them all the marvelous things the scientists of the Underground have been researching. And for the older children, Gaster will sometimes make an appearance and pun riddled speech. (Not that he needed more help, but he liked encouraging the generations of tomorrow to pursue the wonders of scientific discovery.)

Then there is the True Lab, the downstairs area where all the work really happens. Civilians are not allowed in this area because it can be dangerous. Well, really, Gaster wanted to make sure they stay out of the way. When he or his followers are hard at work, the last thing they need is some confused nincompoop wandering around asking stupid questions. (Gaster likes saying that there is no such thing as a stupid question. But really, he doesn’t believe that.)

He grabbed the old human anatomy book he owned to make sure he has a reference for drawing the blood. As he arrived in the upper lab he saw the ever beautiful Queen Toriel standing by some of the small inventions on display. In her arms is a tiny human also looking at the objects, but with a lack of interest. Typical. Humans are such dull creatures. He wouldn’t be shocked to find that they had not advanced at all by the time monsters return to the surface.

“Your Majesty,” He bowed, “It is an honor to see you again.”

“Hello, Dr. Gaster. How have you been?”

“I have been keeping myself busy, and for me, that is very well,” he smiled pleasantly at her. It works in the long run to keep your benefactors happy; especially, if they can shut down your work in a soul beat, “and yourself?”

“Busy as well,” she said, setting the human down, “I will be honest, I almost didn’t agree to this. I don’t like the idea of Chara being poked at and examined. But, she volunteered herself. Plus, I agree, if you can learn more about her while she is healthy then if she ever does fall ill you will know how to help her.”

“Well, if you two will follow me, I will get started and you can see what I plan to do is far from invasive and…,” he looked at the child, “the human will be fine.”

“Mommy, can I go by myself,” the human suddenly spoke up, looking up at Toriel.

“Honey, we talked about this,” the queen frowned, looking back down at the human.

“Yes, but I was hoping you would change your mind. It’s okay, I trust Dr. Gaster.”

Closing her eyes and sighing, the goat monster relented to the child, “Alright, Chara. I trust him also.”

It felt strange guiding the small human to a back office that was set up for these tests. The child climbed up into a chair before he could ask her to, then turned and watching him silently. He gathered the few things he had stocked the room with earlier. Once ready, he finally turned, looking at the small hell spawn before him.

“Alright I’m going to start with-”

“A soul scan, I know… You’ve only done this about… well honestly I wasn’t counting at first, but I think it has been around ten or twelve times.” The child sighed, looking away, appearing to have lost all interest in this. On top of that, the tone changed. Though the voice was still child like, the way it was said sounded like it was coming from a jaded adult.

That didn’t make any sense at all. Gaster looked at the human for a moment, very confused by what was going on. He decided to keep going, lining the machine up and turning it on to start the scan. Once that was done he grabbed a needle to draw the blood sample, then turned, ready to explain what he was about to do.

“Normally you would draw magic from a monster to analyze, but you figure that human blood is equivalent to monster magic. So you guess that it should hold the information you are looking for,” Chara said boredly, extending her arm.

Gaster frowned, looking at the child. What was she playing at? Shaking his head he wrapped the arm as the book said and started to draw the blood. To his pleasure he did better than he thought he would, almost as if he had practice.

He finished cleaning up from that when he turned back to Chara to run a few more tests. The child was staring at him with eyes that match the color of the blood he just drew. She sighed and shook her head, “You know how boring it is to do the same thing several times over. And I’m not talking about the same boring job, like some folks. I mean, relieving the same days, weeks, months and years. I’ve heard about all the wonderful things you have done, so naturally I turn to you for help. The last few times we have tried you got so damn close, too. But then I goof things up, die, and then bam, I’m back at the beginning.”

“...What?” He furrowed his eye ridges. The words finally making sense but it was impossible.

“Look, I need you. I need you to fix this problem I have. Last time you said it had something to do with the barrier. Something about me reacts to the barrier, causing time to reset to when I fell down here if I die.

“No one else gets it except you, no matter how many times I try to explain it. And to prove I’m not lying I know what you are planning to do and you need me for it.”

Gaster waved his hand dismissively, “Yes, for breaking the barrier I do need-”

“No, I’m talking about your  _ other _ project. The one dad would be pissed about if he knew.”

He stared at the child, quietly. He felt his magic twisting up inside of him as he struggled to keep it from flaring up.

“You know, the private one, in your private wing, that you are currently stumped on.”

His eye sockets narrowed. His vision slightly tinted in purple as his eye lights changed to his soul color.

“The living weapon.”

“...Get out.”

“No,” Chara folded her arms and glared back at him, “I know you hate me because I’m a human, and I like that about you. You’re honest about your feelings. You don’t pretend to like me like everyone else does. You don’t swallow down years of pain and embarrassment at the hands of humans to accept me. And I respect that. I want to see you succeed in your project, because I think it is an awesome idea. But I also want you to help me. Besides, at the rate things are going you will never finish it.”

“... Because when you die,” Gaster felt magical bile build up in the back of his “throat” in disgust, “you end up resetting all my work.”

“Exactly.”

He sat there, silently. As much as Gaster didn’t want to believe a word of this, she had proved her story to him. There was no way this child should know about any of that, and yet she does. At this point, it was not the fact she was human that he hated. It was the fact she so smugly cornered him.

 

* * *

 

 

Gaster sealed himself away in his private lab again, pacing and ranting like a madman, “HOW DARE THAT BRAT! THE PURE NERVE OF THAT HUMAN! AND THE WORSE THING IS IT MAKES SENSE!”

He stopped and grabbed the notes he wrote as the child explained what he had figured out timelines before. Although the formulas were missing, everything else was there and IT. MADE. SENSE. Slamming his hands down on the work table he stared at the wall, struggling to get his temper in check.

From the scan readings and what the child told him, humans apparently have all the same soul traits along with another called “determination.” That seems to be the cause of this resetting business.

Frowning, he looked over the notes. Ethereal hands pulled a new rolling chalkboard before him and started scrawling out the formulas as they come to his head. He glanced up at them as they go, editing here and there. The further in this sticky web of numbers and theoretical science, the more he saw it all made perfect yet illogical sense.

The problem was how he had previously viewed the world. Before it seemed as though everything was free to do as it wished, untethered save for the laws of science and nature. But that thinking was wrong. There was something else. He will call this other force “The Code.” The entire world was made of The Code, and the barrier had created a glitch in said Code. This glitch unfortunately allows any human who enters it the ability to mess with time, yet even they have no control of it.

The only thing that he could think of that would cause this reaction would be the determination. After all, monsters share all the same traits and, as far as he knows, no monster has reset the timeline. Past timeline, he had tried decreasing the amount of determination Chara had, and was unsuccessful. It was his first thought again this time.

But The Great and Wonderful Dr. W.D. Gaster did not get where he was but not learning from past mistakes, even mistakes that he, himself, has no memory of. The chalkboard that had the formula for removing Chara’s determination sat before him, and he shoved it to the side. His magic made hands rolled up a new board, and this time he grabbed the chalk himself and got to work.


	3. I WON'T BE TRAPPED IN PAST MISTAKES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progress is made. Chara is annoying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is something fun about writing for a character that has an ego like my Gaster. Umm… that’s it for thoughts really.

“What?” Chara asked, appearing very surprised by his work. She had invited herself into his private lab, much to his disliking. Apparently, she had found it in a previous timeline and now felt she was allowed to enter whenever and however she pleased.

It was an insult to him, a slap in the face. Gaster was not just a scientist, he was THE ROYAL SCIENTIST! That is a station that was honored. Most monsters knew he was to be revered and that he was a skeleton worthy of prestige. For the work he had done, for all of monster kind, he was practically worshiped. The insolent whelp didn’t know the first thing about showing respect. Further proving, in his mind, that the ingrate was nothing more than a nuisance.

“I’m sorry, what’s the problem?” Gaster said, “I thought I explained my theory very thoroughly. What didn’t you understand?” 

“No, I understood it all. But it’s not like anything else your past self tried to do! This is wrong, and we were so close! I told you what you needed to do. Just be like everyone else and repeat until we get it right!”

“WRONG! And that will always be the wrong answer! What is the point of trying something the same way when you don’t get the desired results? If I did that, it would be like trying to write with a broken pen. The ink is there but nothing is happening.

“As one of my professors said, ‘strive for excellence, but don’t do so like the fly beating their head against the window.’ In the past I failed over and over, and I will continue failing if I don’t back up and rethink,” He tapped the chalkboard, knowing the mess of numbers and letters were well over the child’s head, “And that is what I did. I rethought the problem. AFTER ALL, YOU ASKED ME, THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL DR. W.D. GASTER, TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM! Had you wanted a mediocre solution you should’ve asked one of the other scientists in this facility. There are plenty, take your pick.”

“You’re full of yourself,” Chara folded her arms and rolled her eyes, but a hint of a grin was on her face.

“Damn straight! Now look,  **this** is the real answer. Instead of fighting against the glitch in The Code we will use it to our advantage and create ‘save points.’ Then when you do die you can ‘load’ yourself from the code to the last ‘save point’ you were at. That simple. These points will not only load you but also all the progress that has been made up to that point in time. It is not a true fix, but it is at least a bandaid we can use until a true way to repair this glitch can be found.”

Chara drew her face down and heaved a heavy sighed, clearly not liking this solution. But she gave in and eventually shrugged, “Fine, but when it fails I’ll make sure this failure is known by all proceeding Gasters. It will go down in Gaster history.”

“And if I succeed?” The skeleton raised an eye ridge as he folds his arms across his chest.

“I’ll help you any way you want with that Living Weapon project. So anyway, how are you going to make these save points?”

“AH! A VERY GOOD QUESTION! First I need a sample of your determination, or DT as I’d like to call it.” 

 

* * *

 

 

The skeleton sighed, trying to ignore the human child drawing on one of his chalkboards. Why the child felt she had the right to just do what she wants was beyond him. And the fact she seemed to just take over, and demand the authority in HIS space, was aggravating. Her scribbles are not what the chalkboards were for. They are tools of for science, not canvases for inferior, infantile scrawling! He would scold her himself; but, not only is she the king’s child, she also could tell King Asgore about his private project.

Gaster needed to stay focused and not give in to the distracting pest before him. Instead his let his mind fall deeper into the problem laid out in front of him. What he was trying to do was bend The Code, the Laws of Reality. Truly, if he can manage this he is worthy of being called more than “Great” and “Wonderful.” (“Magnificent” has a nice ring to it.) 

It doesn’t matter how grand his plans are, he won’t get anywhere without fully understanding the nature of DT. To do that he needed to figure out how to safely extract DT from Chara to study and, if his theory is correct, make the Save Points, or SPs. After all, if it is determination that allows the human to reset time, then it should also allow for time to be “saved.”

As he delved deeper into thought he hadn’t noticed the child was standing in front of his desk, staring at him. It wasn’t until he heard the brat talking did he bother to look up and take notice. With a frown, he glared at her, “What was that? I’m sorry, I was working on the project you COMMISSIONED me to work on.”

“I was wondering where you got those cracks from,” Evil incarnate asked while pointing to her own face.

Clearly she meant the two hairline cracks on his skull. The milder of the two was under his left eye and ended over his top teeth. The other one started over his right eye socket and, actually, continues on to the back of his head

“I got them during the war. A human gave them to me,” He looked back down as his work.

She was quiet, but she continued staring at him. One would think the silence would be enough for him to get back to work. The the red eyes looking at him, incessantly, was a whole new form of noise to him. At this moment she might as well be screaming. With a sigh he looked back up, “What?”

“Your right eye socket doesn’t open as wide as your left because of that crack over it, right?” She asked.

“CONGRATULATIONS ON FIGURING THAT OUT!” He said, throwing his hands up and smiling in a wide sarcastic grin, “A shame I don’t have a prize, but you already ate ALL MY CHOCOLATE LAST WEEK! Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”

Chara glared and turned away, “I’m telling you, it’s not going to work.”

“And how do you know. According to you I’ve never done this before. THIS IS NEW, UNDISCOVERED GROUND! A TRUE ADVENTURE FOR BOTH OF US!” He said before looking back down, “A break through if you would.”

Out of the corner of his eye sockets he saw the human roll her eyes. Looking up without raising his head, he said with a serious tone, “Keep doing that and your eyes will fall out of your head.”

“They will not,” Chara said in that all knowing tone every child knows.

“Okay, sure, doubt me. Just remember. I’M the scientist, not you.”

He grinned inwardly as he watched the certainty on her face fade. (GG, Gaster, GG. You scared a child.) Silence again fell over the lab, save for the occasional page flip and sound of writing on paper. But according to what he was learning about the small pest, this was not to last. Just as he was on a roll his thoughts were again interrupted.

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He face palmed before looking over at the human. As annoying as his army of hired assistants are, at least they have the common decency to  **not** interrupt him when he was working! Taking a deep, calming breath he looked up at the miscreant, “What happened with what?”

“When you got the cracks… were you on a battlefield or something?”

Gaster frowned while raising his eye ridges. He inwardly thanked the royal family for not educating this pain in the coccyx about the war; more specifically, the part he played. His thanking, had it been said aloud, would of been said in a way that sarcasm would have flowed as a waterfall. Tapping his pen on his desk, needing to vent the frustration, he said, “No, I was The Royal Scientist even then. I was in my lab at the time.”

Chara looked surprised then… sad? “So they attacked an unarmed man, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

This reaction Gaster took interest to, and he leaned back in his chair, “Seems to me you don’t like your own kind. This is not the first time you’ve taken a grime stance to something they’ve done.”

“Should I?” She rolled her eyes and laughed.

As much as he hated the human child, he couldn’t help that his scientific side was intrigued by this. It was different than his current understanding of humans, “I’ve met monsters I don’t like, and yet I don’t hate all monsters. It is odd, in a way, to despise your own kind. I’ll also say, despite my own feelings, I’m friends with a monster who has met many humans, and he doesn’t hate all humans. So, I guess, I’m interested to know why you do.”

“Well he should, and he’s an idiot for not hating all humans!”

Gaster laughed, “For your sake, I won't tell him you called him an idiot.” Very interesting. He rubbed his chin. “So by that logic, should I hate you?” he pushed to understand the psychology of this brat.

“Don’t you already?” She rolled her eyes.

He chuckled in amusement, “Point taken. What about my friend, and your parents and brother?”

“Yes,” She said without hesitation, “everyone should hate me.” She turned and gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine. The shiver was almost strong enough to force him to rattle, but he kept that in check. But, undoubtedly, he felt fear.

...Well that took a dark turn. (Oh Gaster, you don’t know the half of it.)

 

* * *

 

 

“That… that looks different than your past DT extractors,” Chara said hesitantly. She looked at the machine in front of her as Gaster loaded the containers he would use to hold the DT. Originally, he drew up plans for something that looked more functional. Then, he shoved that aside and decided to have some fun with this. After all, what he’d first drawn is what the past Gaster would of made.

What he had designed had a more beastal, skull-like appearance. Once he had designed that one he had started to draw up plans for a more powerful machine. It also had a skull like appearance with some minor differences. But, in the long run, he saw no reason to complete it. 

After all, Chara’s soul trait was determination. This second machine would be better at extracting DT from souls that did not have determination as the main trait. So, he left it at this dragon-esk skull of a machine, that glared down at the human like a predator ready to pounce. He had based the design slightly off the magic cannons he had drawn as a kid; and, it looked more like a deadly weapon instead of the mostly harmless tool it truly was. (You know, the one that looked like it was puking up a tree from earlier. I said he wasn’t much of an artist before. That’s a lie, he’s darn good at making sculptures.)

“HA! I bet it looks cooler!” He laughs, “And that is clearly because I am the more SUPERIOR GASTER!”

“ _ More  _ superior?” The human looked away from the machine for a moment, watching Gaster as he stepped back to admire his work.

“Well of course! I would think all Gasters are superior, I’m just a higher caliber of superior,” He said in a smug tone while smirking, “I have gotten further, faster, than all the rest. Correct? And on top of that I made it better!”

“Yeah…,” The child looked back at the machine, petrified by the aesthetics he gave the construct of metal, wires, and tubes. 

“There’s nothing to worry about, it is completely safe. It won't hurt… much,” he said, smirk widened to a broad eerie grin.

“What?” The child backed away, clutching her chest.

“I’m  _ kid _ ding, you’ve barely feel a thing. Just a light, painless tug on your soul. Kinda like someone pulling lightly on your arm. Imagine a really weak person trying to  _ dragon _ you to get you to follow them. Just instead of your arm they are tugging your soul”, he chuckled slightly. ‘Who's the smug one now, brat?’ he thought to himself. (Wow, Gaster, way to be mature.)

Chara still looked uncertain before shaking her head, “I don’t like it.”

“Why, because it is new?” He said, looking at her, “When you came here you looked dead inside. Bored out of your  _ skull _ . And now you’re ready to run away because finally, after a long time of the same thing over and over again, you are forced to face something new.”

He sauntered closer to the machine and leaned against it. Gaster rested his head on a fist and watched her, for once getting a chance to really enjoy an advantage over the child. The brat owed him this, in his opinion. After all, she’s not held back her ego. He finishes his moment with a remark, “Where’s all that ‘determination’ you’re supposed to have? I guess I should have  _ determined _ fear in my formulas.”

“It’s wherever your puns should go to die! I’m sorry it’s just… it’s scary, okay? I guess I just got used to things being the same.” Tears formed in Chara’s eyes, as she tried not to shrink back further. 

This surprised the scientist, and he suddenly is forced to remember this human is just a child. Small, and fragile. Though the child had lived far longer than she appears, and remembers being a teenager; at the end of the day, she still a child. With a sigh he walked over and squats down before the small being, placing a hand on her small shoulder.

“I promise you, it is completely safe. It won’t do me any good if you die now and reset everything. I made huge progress on understanding human souls, determination, and making my living weapon. Alright? If it does start to hurt, or something seems wrong, I have a failsafe switch to stop it in a soul beat,” He said as the child wiped tears from her eyes with her long sleeved, striped shirt.

He opened the bay for the child to sit. Yea, maybe making it look like a dragon skull wasn’t the best idea. Chara hesitated getting in the pod as it was literally located in the skull’s jaws. But she complied silently, and with no request. Carefully, and taking his time, Gaster began to hook up a few sensors, explaining what they were for as he went, “This will help me monitor your heart rate. This is for your blood pressure. This will monitor your brainwaves.” and so on. Once she was all attached and ready to go he closed the pod and backed away to the control panel.

Taking a deep breath to calm his own, surprisingly tense, nerves, he started it up. The child’s heart rate was already high, not surprising actually. With how scared she was, it would be worrisome if it wasn’t elevated. For now he used a low setting, letting it gather the DT at a casual speed. Too fast and he may scare the child or worse, harm her.

...Wait… when did that get to be worse?

Well, I suppose harming her means the risk of a reset. Be ashame to start all over yet again.

Once done he opened the pod and started to unhook Chara, “AS EXPECTED!” He declared triumphantly, “IT WENT OFF WITHOUT A HITCH!”

To this, Chara laughed, though there was still a nervousness in her voice, “And it didn’t hurt.”

“HAHA! JUST AS I PREDICTED! And we have gathered plenty of DT for me to start the next phase.”

“What is the next phase?”

Gaster grabbed the container and looked at the red substance. 

Interesting… each soul trait manifests a color. His own, for instance, is purple, perseverance. A color that, when mixing paints, you can get when mixing red and blue. Blue is integrity. Now, it is not hard to see getting perseverance from a mix of determination and integrity. 

What about the other way on the color wheel? Courage is orange, a mix of red and yellow, with yellow being justice. He suppose determination and a sense of justice can cause courage.

Those things considered, does that mean there is a chance monsters also have determination? Just in such small amounts that it is not seen in a soul scan?

“Hey!”

He isn’t sure about that. This trait seems so… potent. Destructive. He needs to study it more.

“What’s the next phase?!”

Gaster sighed and put the container under his arm, “You shutting up, and me getting to work. I need to understand DT more before I can make the SP’s.”

“What about your other project,” Chara followed along behind, though sluggishly, clearly tired.

“One thing at a time. Besides, if I distract myself with that, then I could run the risk of you dying before we are done.” He looked down at her, “by the way, how are you doing?”

Chara shrugged, yawning slightly, “Tired. I felt this way the other times. I just need a nap.”

Gaster sighed, expected but a major inconvenience. He can’t just have the child wander off home to sleep. For a moment he just stood and watched the child, considering his opinions. Settling on an answer, he said, “I’ll get an assistant to walk you home.”

“I can do it.”

“No, I insist. And take it easy the next few days. It will take a while to finish my formula and make the machine needed to change this into SP’s.” Gaster was then quiet a moment, “Besides, we don’t want anything happening to you.”

“What, you’re worried about me?” Chara grinned.

“OF COURSE! I don’t want you dying and resetting everything!”


	4. I WILL SUCCEED IN MY ENDEAVORS!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster does some awesome stuff and then he argues with a child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun chapter to write. I almost went further but I feel this is long enough, and the next chapter will be more devoted to other matters. Oh, and I have a link to a video for you at the end… So, you have that to look forward to!

Now came the task to altering and reforming the DT into something that the human could use. For this he designed a new machine, spending days at a time on the problem. Finally, he got it. Or so he thought…

He stared at the machine. (It pretty much looked like a microwave. Just image a microwave with a ‘DT to SP’ button where the ‘reheat’ one should be, and that’s roughly what you’d see. By the way, don’t try reheating anything in it… not a good idea… just trust me on this one.) He removed the container from the machine, which had been filled with DT just a little while ago, and frowned. It was completely empty; the failed cycle left nothing. Maybe there was something wrong with that sample? He grabbed a fresh, sterile sample of DT and placed it in the machine. Then Gaster rechecked the settings, made sure everything was precise, and how it should be. Once everything was perfect, he pressed the buttons, then hit start. When it finished he opened the door and again, found the inside completely empty. “THE HELL!”

Stomping over to the chalkboard, he looked over data, formulas, and then the machine. He must of forgotten something. It was converting the DT into nothing instead of the intended SP. Yet, everything here seemed correct. So, he decided, there must be something wrong within the theory.

He returned to his desk and looked over his notes. It held the information he had gathered on DT over the last few weeks. Deeply engrossed in his research, he didn’t hear Chara enter and walk over to the machine.

“Whoa! What’s that?” She said, breaking his focus for a moment.

“Something that’s not working,” he snapped, used to Chara just wandering in on her own, “And would it kill you to knock?”

“Was that a pun? And for once I did knock, but I don’t think you heard me.” She replied, “Seems to be working to me…”

“IT CLEARLY IS NOT! I put the DT in, and nothing came out. SOMETHING IS WRONG!”

“Then what is this?”

“I TOLD YOU!” Gaster turned to Chara only to see she wasn’t pointing at the machine, but the empty space beside it, “...That is nothingness. There is nothing there.”

“So, then you don’t see it?”

“See what?”

“There is a glowing yellow star here,” she marveled at the empty space. “And when I touch it… I feel determined and it asks me if I want to save…” The child then gasped and turned to face him, “quick! Kill me! Let’s see if it works!”

“What? No, I can’t kill you!” He said, shocked by the words coming out of his own mouth. It was odd… he should of just slaughtered her. But then, she’s the king’s daughter. 

No. How often was he going to come up with justification to hide the fact he now actually liked the child. By no means did he feel she was a friend, but an acquaintance. Gaster had a chance to get to know this human, and the idea of causing her harm no longer sat well with him. So yes, he, the mighty Dr. W.D. Gaster is shying away from killing a human; and he is not going to deny that truth.

“Come on, we both know I don’t stay dead. I won't hate you for it either, and you can let out all that pent up hatred you have for me!” She smiled. The smile was odd, twisted. It didn’t seem to belong to a child, monster or human. Looking at her left an odd sensation similar to looking at a being of pure darkness.

“No, Chara, I’m not going to kill you,” he replied. Gaster feared his voice would resonate with the apprehension within him. But instead his perseverance carried him, giving him the strength he needed to stand against her. His eye sockets narrowed as he stood taller, “You might forgive me, but I will have to live with knowing what I did.”

“But that’s the thing, you wouldn’t of done anything. I used the save point. See? You kill me, and then I load and make it so you didn’t. Because, in a way, you didn’t! You won’t remember.” Chara laughed.

Gaster folded his arms, staring down at her. Unnerved more by the laugh, but not showing it. “It is the principle of the matter, Chara. I will not kill someone who is an ally.”

“You’re being a coward, and I’m going to save again right now to prove that you’re being silly,” Chara said as she saved again. She then paused and a smile grew on her face. She looked at Gaster, tears in her eyes, “It works! You are a ‘ _ bone’afide _ genius!”

That pause… Considering what he just created, and what she wanted him to do; it wasn’t hard for him to put the pieces together. “Did you just...,” Gaster asked, shocked, and a part of him wanted to be sick.

“What? Off myself? Yeah, it’s no big deal. Though you should've seen your face,” Chara laughed, “You went from being so calm and cool to totally freaking out. Seriously, I didn’t know you cared so much. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow for your big project? I can’t wait to see what this weapon will look like. Best I’ve seen so far is a small blob of bones in a tube.”

Feeling his eyes glowing from stress, he watched as the human walked out of his lab, leaving him alone. His body started to shake and he could hear his bones rattling. That was… wrong, all wrong. No creature should treat killing themselves so nonchalantly. A part of him understood how Chara could; considering her circumstances. But at the same time, it was wrong and felt horrible witnessing it.

 

* * *

 

 

“Okay, I think it’s cool that you are giving him two main soul traits. But, why patience again? I mean, I totally understand Justice. That is practically self explanatory. But wouldn’t courage or even DT be a better choice?” Chara frowned, watching Gaster work.

He sighed, rubbing his head, “Look, if I give him Justice and Courage he won't stop and consider the actions he takes. I don’t want him just acting to act.”

Chara was quiet for a moment, watching him, as if expecting him to continue. When he didn’t she then said, “What about Determination?”

Gaster sighed, he had thought about using DT, “After some consideration I decided not to use DT. I still don’t understand the affects it would have on a monster. At this point in time, there are no records, past or present, of monsters having Determination.”

“What about when a monster absorbs a human soul? Don’t they have Determination then?”

The good Dr. Gaster paused in his work and stared at the child. “That is a different matter. One that few fully understand; and, is the very reason we are down here to begin with.”

Shrugging, Chara pressed the subject, “So? It is still a monster with Determination. And it’s supposed to be very strong. As you said, that’s why you’re down here, humans feared that. So, I’d think that means DT is safe and smart to use.”

“That monster would also have a human soul. When a soul is absorbed it wouldn’t of just disappeared. That additional soul could have been housing the DT for the monster.”

The expression on Chara’s face changed to curiosity. He could see she was thinking deeply on that, “Which soul is in charge?”

“Excuse me?” Gaster narrowed his eye sockets.

“If both souls are in one being, then one of them has to be in command. Which one? The monster or the human?”

A question like that angered him. “For starters, I never witnessed a monster/human fusion. There are no written records of it either, only word of mouth stories.”

“So it’s not true? Can a monster absorb a soul? Or was it silly human superstitions?”

“I didn’t say that,” he waved a hand as if trying brush aside that idea, “I know someone who witnessed it.”

“Really? Who?” Chara said, practically jumping with excitement.

“Ha! I’m not sending you to bother him.”

Chara glared at Gaster, who turned back to his work and ignored her. He could hear her make a loud, exaggerated sigh before saying, “All the previous versions of you practically jumped on adding DT to the mix.”

“Did I?” He thought on that. Interesting, “Well, I can always infuse DT into his soul later if I find that it is acceptable. Until then, for his well being, I will not be reckless.”

“You overthink things. It’s just a weapon.”

He turned sharply, pointing at the human, “No, it is a  **LIVING** WEAPON. Which means IT IS A LIFE! And it will be a damn good life, he will be sensible.” Watching her for a moment, Gaster sighed and faced the board again. His ethereal hands returned to work as well, helping him as he was trying to figure out how to form the soul; and, get it to accept the material that would be provided to create a body.

He had to  _ hand _ it to the assistants. They had pulled through with giving him more to work with when it came to creating souls. Though they are focused on something artificial, and he will have to figure out how to make this a real one. Still, they gave him a solid place to start, after he had been distracted with helping the adopted daughter of the royal family.

Speaking of Chara, he stopped momentarily to consider her. He couldn't help but notice that she has been slowly changing. Sometimes she seems to just be aggravating or impatient on purpose, as if trying to rile Gaster for some unknown reason. The worse thing is, she has been getting more and more cocky. Gaster could only assume that’s because she no longer has to fear the consequence of death anymore. (Or any mistake.) 

Together they made several SP’s, which they scattered throughout the entire underground, providing her with plenty of chances to save each day. Gaster tried to make sure there wasn’t one in his lab, but he wonders if she slipped one in a corner. Which, in the long run, shouldn’t be too bad, right? If she is here when an experiment goes awry, she can load them to a point before then.

Still, he couldn’t help but think she is becoming reliant on them. Any moral responsibility she felt before was slipping. That is a dangerous way to view one’s life. On top of that, she was saying how she was thinking of telling everyone to consider her a ‘they’ instead. Knowing and remembering all the time loops, she no longer feels like one person. That made him ask her how often she was loading, a question she refused to answer. Which, in itself, is an answer that didn’t sit well with him.

To summarize: She didn’t fear death anymore, and she was loading far more than expected. 

In other words, he now feared she was a great threat.

And her interest in his project worried him…

So does her interest in monster/human soul absorption.

Chara sighs, “Whatever, it’s most likely going to be a prototype, anyway. You can get it right the second time.”

The chalk in his hand made an awful screech on the board as his anger reached a boiling point. Something about what she said hit a mark, causing him to become enraged. Throwing the chalk hard against the floor he turned sharply and pointed at the human, eye lights darkening in his sockets. His gaze was a dark, hollow, spine shivering glare. His echoing voice had an angry, haunting undertone, “ **NO! I AM GOING TO GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! NOW SHUT UP AND LET ME WORK!** ”

Chara sat there grinning, mocking him with a look that was not fitting for a child. It was a look he had seen on a few humans during the war. One that was better off not being graced with a description. He was beginning to regret not taking her offer to kill her when finishing the SP’s. Not out of anger or hatred, but as a warning. To let her know he was no monster to mess with.

A part of him wondered if that was what too much Determination does to humans. After all, not every human he has seen was like this. Or, perhaps it is a warped view of what Determination is. He had seen and heard of monsters going bad with Perseverance as their main soul trait. Those stories had chilled him, and he considered them a warning to keep his views of the trait pure. He can see the similarities between Determination and Perseverance, but these soul traits were still very different.

 

* * *

 

 

The time was close at hand as Gaster was starting to put everything together. He had eventually decided on using some of his wife’s dust to provide needed variations. His research showed that problems could occured if he only used his matter to form the body and soul, unless he makes them an exact copy. (Like the world could handle two Gasters.) And, if his research was correct, a monster’s dust holds some of the information of the soul.

It was a decision he did not take lightly. The thought of moving his wife’s dust from her beloved nurses uniform didn’t sit well with him. But he rationalised that she always wanted children. And yes, he was making a weapon, but, he will be raising this new life. Caring for its well being will be easier when he knows it is related to her. His wife… Verdana.

This, though, came with a new complication. Sure he may need to care for the life, but in the end it is a weapon. So he can’t get too attached or let it get soft. After some thought, he researched how much time, attention, and care a baby needs to grow up stable. That way he can find the minimum amount of interaction required; thereby, decreasing the chance of parental attachment.

Gaster was surprised to find a vast majority of his research had already, actually, been done. A Dr. M. R. had researched the psychological requirements of social interactions, among other cares and health concerns, for monsters of various ages, including infants. This was a two part paper she wrote. First, she was addressing the concerns of depression developing among monsters. (It was a growing concern. Monster HP, or hope, drops significantly when a monster develops depression. When a monster goes below 0.3 HP they “fall down.” At this point, there is little that can be done other than provide comfort, until they turn to dust. The rate of “falling down” has increased steadily since being trapped under the mountain.) Some of her research he found highly intriguing, and will study later. The second, and key part, was preparation for monster space travel.

Now, why in the world monsters would be shooting babies into space was beyond him. But, she theorized that, with space travel, there would be limited monsters around to interact with and, in some cases, none. Her research into depression revealed that areas of low population had a higher percentage of monsters showed symptoms of depression. Thus, she concluded, that would be a growing concern for monster kind as they “continued to investigate traveling among the stars.” 

Well, regardless of the purpose the information was gathered, she had all he needed written out, plan and clearly. (Overall, a worthwhile piece of work, though he wondered who would waste their time, and money, on such research.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgLYcFtfxWE and if you felt that was too short, here’s this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEwUgv1KnYU


	5. I HAVE DONE... I HAVE A...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster does a thing, and that results in a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched the start of Man of Steel finally. To Gaster’s wonderment as to who would blast babies into space the answer is: SuperMan’s dad. But then, the Saiyan race, from DragonBallZ, were also shooting babies off into space. I guess it is not that odd of a practice. Anyway, I like this chapter. Over all, this is a fun story to write, but this chapter in particular was very enjoyable. And I think it marks a new change in Gaster. ALSO, I’m sure some of you have been waiting for this moment!

He only had one task left: harvest his own materials.

In truth, he was feeling apprehensive, and why wouldn’t he? What he was about to do was take literal pieces from himself to create new life. Now that the time had come, he found himself no where near as prepared for this as he previously thought. For an hour he sat alone in his lab, staring at the equipment. 

“It will be over in no time,” he told himself, trying to relax. Gaster could feel his magic twisting into knots as fear started taking over. Nothing about this was going to be comfortable. Nothing about this was going to be nice. There was no numbing agent in the world he could use that won’t also mess with his mental, or physical, capabilities. He took some preemptive nonprescription pain relievers; but they will hardly do anything except take some of the edge off.

Placing his left hand in the harvesting equipment was difficult; not from the complexity of the machine, but from how much his hand was shaking. Slowly, he used his right hand to place the straps, a precaution to make sure he doesn’t pull away once the machine starts. Then he held his right hand over the start button; and that is where he found himself frozen in motion. 

Struggling to focus, Gaster breathed in and out. A needless action for a skeleton, yet surprisingly calming. “I can do this, I can do this, I can-” before he finished he pressed the button, starting the harvesting machine. The pain numbed his senses for a moment and he didn’t know if he was yelling or just sitting with his jaw open. Eye lights glowed a bright purple as his magic flared, ready to protect the rest of the body.

The machine harvested a circle from the bones of his left hand. It was really a quick process, but felt like to took forever. Looking down at his new disfigurement, vision blurred from pain, stress, and tears. Magic started to seep from the open, gaping wound.

The sight of the bleeding magic, mixed with the sensation of pain in his hand, brought back memories of the war. But they didn’t feel like memories, and for a moment he thought he was there. The nauseating aroma of human blood mixed with monster dust surrounded him. He could hear voices calling out, but rational words were drowned out by the screams of pain and fear.

It was one voice that pulled him back to reality. A voice he hadn’t heard in years. Amid all the terror he heard around him, Verdana’s voice called to him. Hearing it was like a hand reaching for him, pulling him from the living nightmare in his mind.

Rubbing his face with his free hand, he recounted in his head the events leading up to this moment. After feeling the returned to his senses, he found his left hand strapped down, with a pool of blood magic under it. Calming his breathing, he struggled to free himself with his trembling right hand.

Once free, Gaster reached for the bandages he had placed nearby. He lightly filled the gaping hole before wrapping it. This was something that was never going to heal properly, that was obvious. For the rest of his life he will have this hole in his left hand. As to how he was going to explain this to Asgore, he hadn’t the slightest. And Asgore, being the big softy he is, would be bound to notice. Most likely he will want to lecture Gaster about how he needs to be careful, and that science could kill him. BAH! Science wouldn’t kill him! HE IS THE MASTER OF SCIENCE! ONE WITH IT. (Is that foreshadowing?)

Anyway, that was the easy part….

He did his best to find the genes he wanted from among the harvested material. That turned out to be harder than imagined, but he believed the wanted key genes were obtained as planned. Tall, angular, intimidating looking skeleton.

This genetic code he placed in the dish would be used for soul creation, along with a little of Verdana’s dust. The rest of the material was mixed with a sterile solution that will help sustain the new life. And now that everything needed to support the soul was prepared, he was ready for the last step. Creating the soul.

Normally when two monsters want to make a child they join souls until a new one finally is formed, with an immature body. Then one carries the new life in them until the forming body is fully ready to house the soul, without additional support. He didn’t have the luxury of a partner to do that. Gaster had himself and tools. If cutting a part of himself away to make a body was painful, this was going to be agonizing. He stared in the mirror, wondering how he was going to do this. How does one harvest a small piece of their soul in a way similar to joining souls?

In truth, he already had the answer, he had figured it all out. Gaster was the type of monster who believed in measuring twice and cutting once. But that was all practical knowledge, and that didn't comfort him now that the time had come. That was all information that ran through his head like poorly studied equations on exam day.

One thing he could take comfort in, was the knowledge that this was something he could do. According to Chara he had succeeded, but as to how well or how far the new life got, that was currently unknown. BUT, he had succeeded! And not only that, he had lived to tell the tale.

Instrument in hand, he struggled to steady his nerves. After calming himself, he let his magic flare slightly to expose his soul floating in his ribcage. There is was. Glowing white with his life energy. Taking one last deep, calming breath, he used the mirror to guide his equipment into his ribcage. With care, and patience, he used the tool to hook and pull off some of his soul.

Surprised by the lack of pain, he pulled the small peice free and placed it in a petri dish. Then collected one last small sample from a different location, where he had mapped out to have a larger source of Patience. He placed this second collected piece of his soul in the dish and saw the two pieces immediately start to cling to each other. The additional materials, he placed earlier, were absorbed, and the small mass of materials glowed softly. Everything seemed to be correct, but it wasn’t forming a soul.

“Come on…,” he muttered as he struggled to figure out what to do next. Should he try the Determination? He still had some leftover from making the SP’s. Chara had said he had used it before to create the weapon. So was it required?

He didn’t know how long the materials would stay viable, so he had to hurry. Getting up he rushed over to the refrigerator that held the DT and grabbed a vial. Running back, he sat down in his chair with such haste that it started to roll him away from his desk. He stopped the motion and rolled closer. His injured hand ached from all the activity, and the other was trembling so much it was far from helpful.

“Come on, come on!” he repeated, to his hands this time as they fumbled with the vial. Once he got it open he held it over the dish, ready to drip some of the contents. Yet as much as he felt he should hurry, he also wanted to wait a little longer.

Watching the materials, time slowed to a crawl. Every second that ticked by from the desk clock sounded a minute apart. Finally, the little mass of materials, stretched, starting from the left side, then the right. It behaved as if it was just waking from a nap.  Slowly it turned and stirred itself before taking the form that is a monster’s soul.

He stared at the little soul as it sat quietly in the dish. Setting the vial aside he felt elation rising in him to a level he had never felt before. “I...I did it! I…”

The little soul shivered.

“RIGHT!” He quickly scooped up the dish and carried it over to the cylindrical tank that held the materials for it’s body. He tried his best to keep his hands from shaking the little soul too much, but that was hard to do with the excitement of the moment.

Once in the tank he watched as the little soul slowly begin to collect the material provided, to start forming a physical body. (And when I say slowly, I mean slowly. My guess is, for those of you who know this world, you are well aware of who this is.) While how long it was taking was worrying him, he could see the soul was still glowing brightly, and appeared healthy.

“I don’t know if this is because of how you were made, but most souls are done with this process by now. Infact, at this point their goal is to grow. Not to rush you or anything,” he said with a sense of humor. The little soul, most likely not understanding a word, responded by flashing and shimmering. (For monsters this is completely healthy, and actually a sign of contentment or happiness for young monster souls.)

“Well, I guess I should just pull up a chair, huh,” he said, the soul flickered happily, “You think this is funny, don’t you? HA! I SEE I’LL HAVE TO BE  _ STERNUM _ WITH YOU, you lazy son of an Aster! Which, you technically are. My last name was Aster before I changed it…, which is a long story that I will explain when you are older, AND CAN UNDERSTAND!” It was really flickering now. It seemed to enjoy when he raised his voice, and when he laughed a loud cheerful laugh. (Bare in mind, Gaster laughs like your classic “mad scientist”, “Mwah haha” and all)

The soul had stopped gathering material, and was just floating there. At first, he wondered if it was unwell, but it still was flashing happily to him. Next he figured it must have become distracted by his talking. He sighed and shook his head, “Hey, you have a job to do. Now, get back to it. I’ll be here, waiting.” He says before rolling his chair over to sit.

The little soul went back to gathering material and forming. The initial “body” it made was not much. (But then, no new creature looks like much at this point. Though I ask you to consider all that is involved. When you do, you’ll realise that what you initially see as a odd misshapen blob of something, is really extremely impressive.) At this point it was just a small shell like form that (if you squint your eyes and turn your head in just the right angle) has the start of vertebrae on one side.

“There you go. I think we both had quite the day. So, if you’re going to rest now, I think I will too,” Gaster leaned back a bit in his chair and watched. Sure enough, the little soul flickered, but in a lethargic manner.

 

* * *

 

Three days in, and the little soul’s body was looking more like a skeleton. It had a skull, back bones, little legs and arms, and tiny bones that were kept in place by magic to start the process of making hands and feet.

He had placed sensors to monitor the health of the soul during the second day. All tests showed that the soul was stable and healthy. So far, all test were proving this to be a success. In order to make sure the sensors do not get in the way of bone growth, he decided to remove all that were non-vital.

Gaster looked at the small collection of bones floating in the cylinder. The tiny ones making up the hands were balled up as fists, and positioned near its face. The male  ~~child infant subject weapon~~ living weapon was curled in a fetal position. He was so tiny and  ~~ appeared so helpless ~~ he was thriving.

Forming sterile ethereal hands, which were safe for interaction with the developing  ~~ child ~~ life, he began to detach some the the sensors. As he worked he saw something happen and vicariously felt it through his magically formed hands. The weapon had reached out with one tiny, still forming hand, and tried taking hold of one of his fingers.

Seeing and feeling something touching his left hand, this sensation registered stronger to him than the feeling of pain from the wound. The  ~~ living weapon  ~~ **child** had made his case to him. A simple testimony to its true nature and desires for its life. 

Gaster had done something amazing and remarkable. (Of course he had, he is who he is. It is only natural for him to do something that no one else could dream of doing.) Life was created via means that is different than the norm. And while his original plan was for this life to be a weapon, it was something he could no longer desired.

For, you see, this was not a weapon. This was not a living weapon. For the pure nature of a weapon is to be a tool. THIS was no tool. The small collection of bones and the little soul within was something far more than that.

Already this new life had done something that only Verdana had done; melt Gaster’s cold, analytical side, and make him feel deep compassion for a life other than his own. And while he saw a different, greater value for this soul, he knew another won’t. Chara, who had interest in this project, will not see the little soul as he does. What compassion the human had left was reserved for only her adopted parents and sibling. All others she were not of interest.

Not even born yet, and this new life has a terrifying enemy.

No, Gaster has an enemy...

With one simple touch, the life had started to form a bond that Gaster had hoped he would avoid. Now that the bond was formed, Gaster will do what he can to protect this new life. Any of the magical advancements he had given, and will give, will not be for the creation of a weapon, but for this child’s protection. Gaster will see to it that this life thrives and is able to defend himself. But hopefully that won’t need to happen; for Gaster is ready to step between the little soul and any threat. For you see, THIS WAS HIS SON!


	6. I AM THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL DR. W.D. GASTER! A N D  D O N ‘ T  Y O U  F O R G E T  I T

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster does something about Chara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Or happy whichever day you happen to be reading this.

A month had gone by before Chara decided to come and inspect the new life. Gaster was happy that she had given the little soul that much time before “gracing” the lab with her presence. What he didn’t like was that he was out of the lab when the human arrived. He didn’t know how long the human child had been standing there, inspecting his son. The way she was looking at the unborn skeleton was annoying. She was appraising the growing life as if the little soul was an ordinary object.

Because of who she was, the King’s daughter, he had allowed himself to lose control of this lab. Long ago, she changed it from a private sanctuary for his personal work to her retreat. It was time for him to regain control, reclaim  **his** territory. Not just for the right to privacy, but for the safety of his son.

With his head high and shoulders squared, he strode across the room. Though he approached Chara, he doesn’t say a word. Over time the child had learned how to read his hands when he signs. Wanting to make sure he doesn’t “say” something she shouldn’t see, he put his hands in the lab coat pockets to keep them from moving. He wanted to force her to address him first, but found he didn’t have the patience for that, “Been a while, how are things?”

“Fine,” Chara said, “It looks better than the past ones.”

“Does he?” He looked at the little soul.

“Yes, it looks more defined. I can see where one bone starts and one ends. Before it looked like a blob.”

“Interesting. WELL, I think that is further proof that I AM THE SUPERIOR GASTER!” He laughed.

“You know, I was really hoping to throw those words back at you,” Chara muttered.

“I haven’t given you the chance yet,” He grinned, still looking at his son, “Nor, will I.”

They were quiet for a moment, “It is a he, huh?” Chara asked, looking up at Gaster, he chose not to return the gaze.

“Yes, he is,” Gaster stated, then paused a moment. Save for the set smile on his skull, his expression was completely serious,  “and he is my son.”

“Your son? Can a weapon be a son?” She replied with a snort. Chara’s voice hid nothing about her opinion on that. He didn’t need to see her face to know what she was feeling.

“HE is not a tool. I have pulled back from my weapon project at this time. Instead, once he is ‘born,’ I have a different idea that will make a far better weapon.” Gaster kept a calm tone, not wanting to upset the little soul that was glowing brightly, and listening to the voices around it.

“WHAT?!” Chara yelled and turned to face Gaster, “How?! How could you do that?!”

“Surprisingly, rather easy,” his eye sockets narrowed, because he saw the little soul pull back the light he gives off naturally. The new life was clearly scared of Chara’s tone of voice. “Now, if you are going to continue yelling, please leave. I don’t want you upsetting him any further.”

She looked between the soul and Gaster. He wished he could tell what she was thinking. She was clearly plotting since she back down without a fuss. Instead of trying to argue her point, she grins and just walked off towards the exit. “I’ll see you around the castle,” Gaster called after her. She said nothing in return.

 

* * *

 

Finally, the time had come. The little soul had a viable body, and no longer needed the support of the tank. He removed the remaining sensors and carefully lifted his son from the liquid that had nourished him from the past three months.

The little skeleton opened his large eye sockets and looked around before beginning to protest being out in this new world. The liquid that had surrounded him before provided some comfort and warmth, which the open air lacked. (Granted, skeletons don’t really need to be warm, and the cold doesn’t bother them. They can fall asleep in a freezing snow storm without a care; though they should keep their joints protected from potential ice build up. But that doesn’t mean they enjoy being in the cold verses somewhere warm.)

To the newborn, the cold air was new and uninviting. To express his displeasure with the situation he began to rattle. Holding the upset infant close Gaster tried to provide some comfort. The child was still rattling, though softer, when he took his son over to a sink and started to clean him off with a warm wet cloth and small brush. Once done he dressed and wrapped his son up in a blanket and held him.

In order to not raise any suspicion, Gaster had gathered supplies for the baby at the dump. Humans were always throwing out things that he could find use for, and luckily baby clothes was included. He had washed everything thoroughly, and set up a small area for his son. Including a play space, bed, and a shelf for children’s books. 

So far he was lacking books that seemed fitting for a baby, but that’s because they all seemed so… so… idiotic. Like the one about the dumb little duckling wandering around asking random animals, that clearly looked nothing like it, if they were its mother. He couldn’t even finish reading such drivel. And if he couldn’t read it to himself he was not going to read it to his son; nor, would he want his son reading it.

If he had to, he would make up stories, and find better things for his son to read once he is old enough. Given the proper time, Gaster could come up with a story, he supposed. For now, though, just simply talking to the infant should suffice.

With the child clean, clothed, and bundled up, Gaster carried him over to his desk and sat in his chair. The two stared at each other silently, considering and examining the other’s face. Gaster could see the curiosity in his son’s eye lights. Already, the small skeleton was learning, and Gaster chuckled,  “you’ll know who your father is, unlike that asinine duckling.”

 

* * *

 

A few days had gone by before the small skeleton had finally started making noises often enough for Gaster to figure out his font. (It is an odd thing about skeletons. Though they use a near silent language, the way they speak dictates their name. Which begs the question, which comes first, the font or the skeleton? Is Wing Dings named after Gaster, or is Gaster named after Wing Dings? Also, how does one decide what a font sounds like? Only skeletons know that.) The child’s voice match that of Comic Sans, and thus the child was named Comic Sans Gaster, Sans for short.

Sans was a fairly quiet child, more interested in watching and listening to Gaster than anything else. One good thing is that he also took nap time very seriously. Gaster had always heard that children could be resistant to naps, but little Sans didn’t make a fus. As long has he had his blanket he could sleep anywhere. And once Sans was down, he was out for at least an hour. This provided Gaster with time to go out and check on the lab personnel. In order to make sure Sans didn’t wake up and hurt himself, nap time was in a “crib” Gaster had made. It was pretty much a metal box, with clear panels for Sans to look out if he wished. The crib only had a pillow, mattress and blanket when Gaster leaves. He figured the fewer things in there, the better. (Not that a skeleton can choke or suffocate, since they don’t have lungs, but he wasn’t going to run any risks.)

Trying to create an artificial human soul turn out to be impossible. No matter how they came at the problem, they could not get the pieces to work. Even Gaster, who had managed to create a life, failed as making a false human. But through their experiments they were getting a better look at the soul traits. 

They had found out that it is possible to alter another’s soul trait temporarily. Doing so inflicts the aspect of the new trait on the soul. One that Gaster took interest in was Integrity. This trait, which “grounds” a person with their moral principles, allows for the caster to alter the gravitational pull on the target. It took him a few weeks of practice to master it, and he was not going to use it on Sans until he did master it. (Before then, he had sent several lab assistants flying.) Not that his ethereal hands couldn’t handle Sans, but there may come a time when he needs to grab Sans faster than his hands could.

For a few months he was able to play the role of father while hiding the existence of his son from everyone. He was feeling fairly proud of himself for this. (A normal state of being for him, as we all know.) Another day, and Sans was down for his nap when Gaster headed out to check on the work he had assigned everyone. His equations, figures, and theories tucked under his arm; everything he worked on, while keeping an eye on Sans.

That was when he felt he had to go back, NOW! Without question he turned and ran, dropping his papers in the process. He didn’t care who saw, and ignored the one intern as they called out, asking if he should pick up the papers. All Gaster knew was his son needed him.

As he approached the lab he heard the terrified rattles of a infant skeleton, and the cries of his son. One look into the room he knew what was going on.

Chara.

The human had gotten Sans out of his crib; and as to what she was planning on doing, he didn’t care. All he knew is this was not a moment he was going to hesitate or put on a show. Just as he practiced, with ease, he felt Chara’s soul and he forced it to change traits. Chara glanced down at her chest before looking at him with clear surprise.

Gaster could only imagine what it felt like to have gravity altered on you, and only you. Chara scrambled to keep her place, as the room rotated to her, and only her. For the human, down was now the far wall, and far from his son. Though she tried to grab hold of something, there was nothing on the floor to stop her fall, and she hit the wall hard. Her crash into the unforgiving surface was marked with a yelp of pain. He held her here, increasing the gravitational pull so she couldn’t easily move around. Not that she wanted to, she was clearly fearful of the fact that the world was now sideways.

Calling up a few ethereal hands, he lifted Sans and place him back in his crib. All the while, Gaster kept an eye on Chara. “I told you, he is my son,” Gaster frowned.

“How are you doing this?!” Chara ignored his statement with her question.

“Never mind that,” Gaster walked forward, keeping a calm, clinical attitude.

“And each time you kept getting here faster, it’s like you knew I was here. How?”

How indeed, Gaster hadn’t the slightest. But now was not the time to be questioning that. This was also not the time to be letting it slip that he had no idea. If he showed the slightest hint of weakness Chara would take it in spades. Placing his left hand in his lab coat pocket he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Like well trained dogs, his ethereal hands floated over and grabbed Chara. Finally he released her soul from the Integrity he forced upon it. Once he saw the child was neutralized, at least for now, he moved over to the equipment for the creation of SP’s. He was looking for the tool they used to move the SPs safely.

“Are you listening?” Chara yelled.

“Where is it?” Gaster asked her, once he found what he was looking for.

Chara glared at him but sounded confused, “What?”

“Where is the Save Point in here?”

“How?”

“ **W H E R E ?** ” His voice echoed as if it were coming not from him, but across all the timelines.

The child froze for a moment before finally sighing and pointing to a corner not far from his desk. He walked over, and sure enough, the tool reacted with something he could not see. He carried it over to the machine he used to make it and placed the SP inside. He closed the door and pressed a series of buttons. A cracking noise was heard from within the machine as the SP was destroyed.

With that now taken care of, he turned and started to walk out of the lab, Chara being carried behind him, “When we get out of this section, you will walk on your own out of the lab. Do anything and I will restrain you. Fight against that and I  **will** kill you.”

“HOW?!” the child screamed. He looked back at her tear streaked face. She wasn’t crying because she felt bad about what she had done. It was obvious she was mad that she was caught by an unrelenting force.

“You want to know how?” Gaster said. He turned, putting both hands in his pockets.

“How did you make the world spin and how did you know I was here? How did you get here faster each time?”

All decent questions, but he closed his eye socket while fading out his eye lights. When he opened them again, the child was staring into two void-esk sockets. “Dear child,” he said said, with a dry chuckle, “there is something you seemed to be constantly forgetting.” He pulled both his hands free from his pockets and spread his arms while, “I AM THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL DR. W.D.GASTER.”

“THAT DIDN’T ANSWER ANYTHING!” Chara yelled, as Gaster turned and started walking.

“It is all the reason you need.”

She was silent until he was about to set her down, “I swear, I will one day throw those words back at you.”

“And when you think that day has come, I promise, I will be there to shut you down again,” He then had the ethereal hands let her go before placing a hand on her back, “walk.”

She did as she was told and he put his hands in his pockets and followed along. Several people tried talking to him, but he turned them away with a simple look and stated in a flat tone, “busy.” They left the lab and traveled through Hotlands, as if heading toward New Home and The Core. Finally they stopped where they would be alone and he knew there was a save point.

“Save,” He said.

“What? No!” Chara snapped, “You can’t make me save.”

Using his etheral hands he grabbed her and dragged her closer to where he remembered the Save Point was. “ **S A V E.** ”

“Or what?” Chara snapped.

Gaster looked blankly at her, “Child, I have lived through a war. A war in which both sides were well acquainted with the notion of torture. And BOTH sides were equally guilty of it.” He leaned, looming over her, “And who do you think your dad turned to when it came to studying torture techniques on humans? I  **was** The Royal Scientist during the war aswell, remember?”

The child looked at him, her voice softly squeaking out “you wouldn’t…”

“Oh?” Gaster kept as flat of an expression as his skull shape would allow. Though, the constant smile offered a macabre aspect that caused the human to shiver.

“I mean, if you hurt me… Dad would see and…”

Gaster nodded, “Ah, I see, well… it is amazing what healing magic will fix. Now, save.”

The child reached out to the invisible star, and then looked at him, “done.”

He needed to make sure...

 

* * *

 

(Time repeated, just as before.)

The child reached out to the invisible star, and then looked at him, “done, I saved.”

Everything seemed familiar, so he had to be sure…

 

* * *

 

(Time repeated, Chara failing to change events)

The child reached out to the invisible star, and then looked at him, “Would you stop killing me, I saved.”

“You’re lying.” Gaster added flatly, “We did this all before. And until I know for certain...”

 

* * *

 

(Time repeated, events all leading to this moment, and it was finally saved.)

The child reached out to the invisible star, and then looked at him, “this time, I did it. I’m stuck otherwise. I can’t beat that new thing you can do.”

He wasn’t going to take any chances…

 

* * *

 

(A small loop was formed.)

How many times had he killed her now? He wasn’t sure. But Chara was bawling, and she sat on the ground, holding her head, “PLEASE STOP! I SAVED, PLEASE STOP!”

Gaster had an attack ready to kill her, but stopped it. He stood there, silently, looking at the child before dismissing the attack. “You WILL, from now on, only use the SP’s for their intended purpose, is that understood?”

From the child came a weak nod.

“Good. Go home, clean yourself up. And I NEVER want to see you near my son ever again. Is that understood?”

Again, there was a nod, but this time it was frantic as the child just wanted to leave.


	7. I… I wasn’t expecting that, honestly…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the conflict with Chara, Gaster has to do something, or risk the safety of his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I know it’s been awhile since I posted a chapter of this story. I just was feeling a little discouraged. Anyway, I’ll try to get back to writing this story more often because I really love it.

Gaster doubted it was over. He won a battle but not the war. Chara knew about his son and his secret lab. How long did he have? That would depend on Chara. In all truth, he didn't know if she would try anything else, or if he was just being paranoid. But he felt he needed to move from this lab and hide all sensitive documents.

As far as he knew, he still had a few locations in his lab that the human child knew nothing about. They were nothing but simple closet like spaces to store equipment and documents. Is it suspicious? Oh yes! Had he known another scientist with a lab like this he would wonder what they were up to. But Gaster trusted himself.

Well, yes, he did somehow beat the odds, create a life with the intent on turning said life into an instrument of war. But he clearly had enough moral fiber to turn back from that project. Thus, he reasoned, he should be allowed to have a work space like this. A shame it might no longer be so private

He gathered every note he had on Sans and opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet. Lifting the false bottom, he stored all that precious data away. Burning it might be a better option later, but right now he would have no means to cover up the smell of smoke or reasonable place to hide the ashes.

(Besides, there is always the off chance he might want another.)

Picking Sans up, his ethereal hands grabbed up all the baby items and shoved them into the hidden closet spaces. He would have to hide everything for now, and hope to move it to his new location later. Luckily Sans is easy to entertain and sleeps a lot. A few hours without toys should pass fairly well.

There was nothing he could do for the makeshift crib or children’s bookcase. He will just have to think of a reasonable lie for both if Chara leads Asgore here. Luckily for him, the king will believe nearly anything he tells him. If all the children's books and blankets are hidden away there won't be any evidence against his claim. Now he had a new problem. Moving Sans through the facility unseen, and (more importantly) where to move him.

After some thought he decided on wing A. No one used that lab wing anymore. It was the first wing of the true lab, after the decision to not expand the upper level. It wasn't until he justified the need for more space that the other wings added. So, all the equipment was old, and the offices were small, compared to the newest ones.

Destination decided, he then bundled the small skeleton up and placed him in a box. Perhaps it wasn’t the most dignified way to move his son; but, feeling rushed, it was the only answer he had. Sans, luckily, was ready for a nap now that his dad is here and whatever trauma he went through was over.

The two made their way through the facility, mostly unbothered. Gaster was happy for this. It appears his mood from earlier left an impact. Unfortunately, this was not to last, a bird looking monster in a lab coat approached with a feline, dress in CORE engineer uniform.

“Sir,” she trilled, “I know you are busy, but you need to see these numbers.”

“It can wait,” he said, walking passed.

“No, it can’t,” snapped the engineer. He quickly moved in front of Gaster and waved the papers in his face. “Now, ya might have this lot bowing to ya as if yer the king, but that ain't going to work with me!”

Gaster was taken aback by this, “Clearly. Make your point, but lower your voice, if you would so kind. I have a skull ache.” In truth, he felt Sans move in the box. Last thing he needed was his son waking and crying.

“I don't care if yer head pops off! My workers are in danger, have been in danger. The CORE is overheatin’ and anytime I ask if ya know, they turn me away.”

“Let me see those,” Gaster said, handing the box he was holding over to the bird monster. He took the papers and read them over. He was surprised by the readings. “There seems to be more strain on it.”

“There's more monsters than there used ta be,” the engineer said, “more things usin’ energy too. We are maintainin’ her well, but she can't keep this up. And I don't think I need to tell you what could happen if she broke.”

“No, you don't,” he thought for a moment, “for now we will have to limit energy use. Shorter day cycles too. I won't kill monster kind to have less light for a while, considering we nearly spent a year in the dark.” Gaster then looked at the Head Engineer of The CORE, “I will look for solutions in the meantime.”

“Thank ya,” the feline nodded and turned away, mumbling, “‘bout flippin’ time, gotta do everthin’ m’self.”

Gaster started to make his way again, looking over The CORE’s recent temperatures and maintenance reports. He was sure he had developed a strong enough coolant. Were they using a bad batch? Nope. The engineer's report states they not only check the quality of the coolant, but switch it as well.

“Sir, your box?” The bird monster called out to him.

Box?

SANS!

The speed at which he turned nearly left him dizzy as he all but ran back to retrieve his son. Sans must have made a sound or moved as the bird monster started to lift a flap. Before she could see in, he placed the reports and his hand on the top of the box.

With an empty socket stare, he said slowly, “Thank you, for bringing these concerns to my attention. And thank you, also, for holding **my** box.” The bird hesitated, “I believe this is when you say, ‘you’re welcome.’”

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome, Doctor,” she said, surrendering the box to Gaster.

He looked at her for a moment, not wanting to leave it at this. After all, she did make sure that this was brought to his attention. The safety of monster kind is more important to him than providing them with energy. If no solution is found, he’d rather shut The CORE down than have it break.

He lit his eye sockets, giving her two white dots to look at verses empty darkness. “I have a task for you. Find everyone who turned the engineer away. I have made myself available, and by no means would I be too busy to deal with any problems with The CORE.”

Having lights in his eyes again seemed to relax her, “Of course, Doctor. I’ll get on that right away.” With an approving nod, Gaster turned to resume moving Sans to the A wing.

Just as he was rounding the corner a voice called out from behind him, “Doctor, you have a, uh, royal visitor.”

“AS EXPECTED!” Gaster called back, “tell our king that I will be there right away!”

“D-doctor, about that-”

“Just tell him,” he said picking up his pace. He needed to stash his son somewhere, stat. Luckily, King Asgore was not an impatient monster.

He was most of the way down the hall when there was a loud pop. From above green, shimmering, magic bullets, in the shape of stars and planets with rings, filter down before fizzling out of existence. With Gaster’s health already at full, any that touched him did nothing.

A black banner unfurled before him, the words “Welcome To The Space” was written in large, white, painted letters. (Squeezed in at the end was “Department”. Gaster didn't see it till later). Around the words was an almost accurate depiction of the night sky.

“Welcome, Doctor Gaster!” A dark blue, monitor lizard monster with bright green stripes said. “My name is Doctor M. R., the current head of the Space Department by default. Since, you know, you never assigned anyone else here.”

Space Department? When did his lab have a Space Department? He thought hard as she continued talking. And then he remembered the day he assigned someone to a nonexistent department. (You know, back at the beginning of the project to make a weapon) The information he gathered, about the social requirements for a young monster to grow up stable, was hers.

Before now, he didn’t notice she was leading him down the hall to lab A-1. In it was a few interesting inventions. As he looked around he started listening again, “Now, I know I have been fudging the numbers. Claiming there are 3 people in this department, but that is the least amount of people required for a department to be valid. It is annoying trying to collect the check though, as each time they have no idea I’m working here. Which is fine by me, really, I don’t mind working alone. But, moving on, I only take my pay and use the rest to fund my experiments. Making this, over all, the cheapest but among the more useful departments. Seeing has how space travel is currently out of the question, I feel I have enough time to fully explore how space travel would be possible. Also, how we could potentially colonize a new planet.” She waved a hand over to a variety of plants, “Those are some surface plants that were brought down as seeds. As you can see I cultivated-”

“How much of this does Asgore know about?” Gaster asked, sure that Asgore never would have funded this “department.”

“Uh… well, not much. I keep my reports to him very vague. And use…,” she hummed a soft tone before continuing, “words that may go over his kingly head. Not an easy task, mind you. On paper this is the ‘Astro-exploratory, Quantum Physics and Mechanics Department for a Brighter Tomorrow.’ I thought the end part added a nice flare.”

“How did you know I was coming?” Gaster looked at Doctor M. R.

She waved her hand to a screen, on it was several views of the hall, rooms, and even the lab they were in, “my monitors. I have the entire wing under surveillance for just this moment.”

“For… just the moment I might walk down here?”

“I have to make sure to give you a proper welcome,” she smiled big, humming to herself in contentment. As Gaster continued thinking in silence the lizard fidgeted nervously.

“If Asgore were to walk in now, what wouldn't you show him?” Gaster said and watched for her reaction.

She pointed her index fingers at him as if they were guns, in a playful manner, while she smirked, “don't you mean: what would I show him?” When Gaster was slow to respond, she cleared her throat, “I mean, I have a few things that don't fall in the more… theoretical… it is hard to prove this departments worth, but I assure you, Doctor, if you don't shut this de-”

“Who said anything about shutting this down? I CLEARLY had reason for creating this department,” Gaster bluffed his way through. He then handed the box containing Sans to her. “Keep him safe and make sure no one knows about him, or I will shut this down. Understand?”

“Yeeeees?” She looked a little confused, then looked at the box as he started to walk away.

“Give away my secret and I will do the same to you.” Gaster added, loudly, as he walked down the hall.

“Your secret is safe with me!” She called back, almost singing it. She said something more, but he didn't have time. Asgore may be a patient king, but he won't wait forever.

 

* * *

 

Doctor Melody Of The River (or M. R. or just Dr. R. as she often signs her name) had poked her head out of the lab and said, “Wait! Did you say him?” But Doctor Gaster obviously didn't hear her or cared. With a sigh, she walked over to a table to set the box down.

On her way there, she could have sworn she a sound… a very distinct sound. The kind of sound that anyone with a strong paternal instinct reacts to. Setting the box on the table she opened it, and, despite knowing what she heard, was surprised.

Two, half opened eye sockets looked up at her with two fuzzy eye lights. The small skeleton wiggled, as if trying to stretch, but the blanket he was wrapped in was preventing such movement. In the effort, he made a few small grunts before sighing and giving up.

“Who puts a baby in a box? Come here, you,” River reached in and picked the child up. Last she heard, Gaster never remarried after his wife died. To top that off, there was no rumor of a lover of any kind, and she was certain she heard he was the last skeleton alive.

So then… where did this one come from?

(In truth, she had an idea. After all, she worked with theatrical science. She knew something can’t just appear from nothing, and she heard the rumors of Gaster hurting his hand doing something no one knew anything about. Still, even to her, it seemed farfetched.)

A light and a beep let Doctor R. know someone was walking down the hall. Glancing up, she saw the human child of the royal family on the monitors running this way. Well, it is a good thing Doctor R. had researched many different monster types. She knew the perfect hiding spot.

 

* * *

 

Gaster hurried to the upper lab, and what he saw was not King Asgore. No, that was, definitely, not the King. But it was indeed a “royal visitor.” A very annoyed and angry one. One that he would not have kept waiting for this long had he known.

“Your Majesty,” Gaster said as he walked forward, keeping a calm demeanor.

Queen Toriel’s burgundy eyes, like two garnets, looked right at him with a glare that nearly made him recoil. Chara chose well in picking this boss monster to confront Gaster. Asgore was not a bad ruler, but he was very tolerant. Toriel, on the other hand, was the type who won’t stand for nonsense, and was a mother bear when it came to defending her children.

“Cut the crap,” she said with a snarl. She bent over slightly to stare Gaster right in the eye sockets. She made sure she wasn’t looming over him as she glared with a flame in her eyes, that he knew not to ignore. Gaster respected that about her, when it came to matters like this, she didn’t use her position and height to intimidate. As if she needed those to threaten someone, especially someone who knew her before being underground. “Right now, I want to talk like we did back during the war. No titles, no obligatory niceties, and none of that sugar coating or dropping of relevant details you do for my husband.”

Well, this is happening…

Placing his hands in his lab coat pockets, Gaster looked back at Toriel. “Then, Toriel, what can I do for you?”

“Why did my child come home, crying, saying you threatened them,” Toriel stood back to her full height and looked down at him, most likely to spare her back.

She wanted him to be straight forward with her, then that’s what she’ll get. With a casual shrug he said, “What was your child doing unsupervised in my lab?”

“That doesn’t give you the right to terrorize them!” Toriel snapped, “They came home, looking as pale as a ghost!”

So, Chara made the transition from ‘her’ to ‘them.’ Fine, he’ll respect that. “You’re lucky they didn’t come home just a soul.” Toriel snarled and Gaster continued, giving her a deadpan stare, “My lab is not safe for children.”

“They said you threatened them,” Toriel’s fangs gleamed as she exposed more of them when her lips curled back. As a skeleton, he tends to notice teeth, horns, and other bits of bone that protrudes from his, more fleshy, fellow monsters. Yet, before this moment, he never considered how sharp Toriel's fangs appeared.

(Despite Toriel's and Asgore being “goat monsters” and having some resemblance to the herbivore; calling them as such can result in a short sightedness. After all, what goat has large paws? Or fangs? This is something Gaster is learning.)

“L-Lady, I mean,” Everyone who wasn't watching with interest now was. Not only did Gaster, the proud, self-secured, skeleton he was just stutter, but he took a hesitant half step backwards while holding out his hand defensively; clearly wanting to escape.

But that notion was denied, as Toriel reach out and grabbed him by his coat, holding him in place. “Why, old friend,” she uttered venomously, “are you trying to flee? Perhaps you are guilty of something?”

‘This is how I die,’ Gaster thought, ‘surrounded by backstabbers who’d rather gawk than help. All the while Sans, my son… Sans!’

What would happen to his son if he died here? (Not that Toriel would actually kill him. Well, she might have, had she wittiness what occurred earlier.) He didn't want Sans to be orphaned. What would they do if they figured out his secret? Would they treat him as the child he is? Or as the thing he was originally going to be?

Gaster narrowed his eye sockets, glaring back at Toriel, “Are you insinuating something? Is there a crime you think I am guilty of?”

“According to Chara, you have a child locked up in a secret lab downstairs,” Toriel’s hand was trembling with pent up rage.

“Nonsense! While I will confess to having my own private section of this facility, I would never lock up a child! Monster or human, at that.”

Toriel watched his face carefully, looking for any hints of lying. Not seeing anything she released him, “It didn’t seem like something that Chara would just make up. Children have their imaginations, but that is beyond what I’ve normally heard from them.”

Gaster straightened his jacket, calming his nerves further in the process. “Well, if I had to guess,” he started, looking down at himself before looking back up at the Queen, “your child misunderstood what it is I am working on.”

“Is that so?” She folded her arms, face relaxing slightly, but the anger was still present. “Well, then, why don’t you show me what it is you are working on? And this ‘private section.’”

“Of course, if you would follow me,” Gaster turned, his gut instincts were right about moving labs. Toriel will be more skeptical, and thus, harder to convince than Asgore, but she can be reasoned with.

As they descend into the lab, Gaster ignored the stares as he passed by his workers. Let them gawk. This was a make or break moment, and his son remaining hidden would depend all on a monster he knew nothing about.

 

* * *

 

“Hello there, Chara,” Dr. R. sang out more than spoke, “It is an honor-”

“Where is it?” Chara snapped.

This was intriguing to the lizard monster, and she tilted her head, “Where is what?” Dr. R hummed, “Wouldn’t have happened to hear of my latest project? And here I thought it was kept a secret.”

“I’m talking about the thing Gaster brought you,” Chara huffed.

The lizard monster brightened up, “Oooh that! Well, I’m surprised you would find interest in it. But if that is what you want to see, if you would just follow me~”

With a simple wave of a claw like hand, she gestured for the human child to follow. They walked together from the lab and down the hall a short way. Dr. R lead the human to a room with filing cabinets, “Now, I put that box in one of these….” She hummed, “but I can’t remember which.”

“He was just here, how did you forget?” Chara sighed, “Look, I don’t want to hurt it, I just want to see what it can do.”

“Not sure I understand,” Dr. R. frowned, “But the box is somewhere in here… Shall we look?” She smiled brightly, and the human sighed and started opening drawers. All the while Dr. R. hummed an unheard song, sometimes singing a lyric or two.

Just Chara’s luck, the box was in the last cabinet checked. It was time wasted, but there was something that needed to be confirmed, and only by interacting with the thing would Chara know. Taking a deep breath, eager to relax, Chara reached over to lift the box flaps.


	8. I AM A MONSTER, BUT NOT THEIR MONSTER

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THEY TOOK THE BOX! LET'S SEE WHAT'S IN THE BOX!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Father’s Day! Have some Dadster to celebrate!

(Let's take a moment, review the past, and see things through someone else's eyes. Doing so will, undoubtedly, increase your understanding of current events. For, as much as this is Gaster's story, the people in his life also matter.)

When Chara first entered the lab, the small skeleton in its playpen-esk crib looked up with curious eye lights. There was no fear or aggression, only wonderment at this new being. As Chara approached the skeleton it sat there and reached its small hands in the universal sign of “pick me up” that children seem to inherently know.

So, not one to reject such an invitation, Chara obliged the offer and picked up the small collection of bones. It was easier to look at the thing this way. In return, the skeleton was watching Chara, as if inspecting them as well.

That was when Chara started testing it. Gaster had mentioned enhancing it to increase its potential as a weapon. And while Chara doubted most of those won't manifest till it is older, it would be interesting to see what it can do now. And, well, hurting it was part of the job, though the human took no pleasure in that. Even so, Chara reasoned that it should learn to hate humans eventually, why not start today.

Over all, the skeleton seemed confused and nervous, and time was running out before Gaster would be back. Chara decided to restart and be tougher on the thing. After all, if it did somehow dust, it was just a matter of restarting the encounter.

The second time Chara entered, there was a change in behavior. The skeleton didn't reach to be picked up. It just sat there, watching, suspension visible in its tiny eye lights. But, Chara didn't care, wanting to hurry this all along.

The treatment given to the thing this time was far harsher. No small pain but mostly gentle coaxing like last time. By no means would any of these acts ever be performed on a real monster. (The idea of Sans being a real living monster was impossible to Chara. He was simply a toy or construct.)

Unfortunately, Gaster walked in, disturbing the tests just as they were starting to produce results. Chara had felt a hum and rise in magic from the thing. Before Gaster could react, they loaded encounter again.

The third time Chara walked up to the crib, the thing tried to move to the back and started crying. This time, Chara went too far and ended up turning the thing to dust. Gaster walked in, and was clearly upset but in a state of shock, allowed Chara to quickly moved to the SP in the lab to reload again.

The fourth try, the weapon just moved to the far back and sat there, rattling and crying. Chara found that annoying and struggled to get the thing out of the crib. And when they did, Gaster had gotten back sooner than before, arriving just as the tests were about to start.

The fifth time the thing behaved the same way, but was dodging, as if remembering how it was grabbed before. This was… interesting...

Gaster got back even sooner, demanding to know what Chara was doing.

Same with the Sixth.

The seventh time Chara had barely started to reach for the thing when Gaster returned and full out attacked. He had barely left, and seemed confused by all of this, but too angry to care. How could he remember though? Monsters aren’t supposed to remember resets!

Either way, this thing, that Gaster made, also clearly remembers.

But that was all past events now. After being forced to save by Gaster, Chara could no longer test this in the lab. Getting Toriel as a distraction for Gaster felt like a stroke of genius. And now, the box Gaster tried hiding the weapon in was in their hands. Taking a deep breath, Chara opened the box...

Chara reached into the box…

Chara lifted what was in the box…

“Freezer manual?”

“Yes! Isn’t it exciting!” The addle-brained monster of a scientist said as if singing, clapping her claws together and smiling. (Again, please remember the perspective) “With the help of this very department we were able to recreate one of the fascinating machines that fell from above. But even better. I made that manual and Gaster signed off on it. He was just returning it to me, and is eager to see the freezer himself!

“Would you like to see it? Apparently, humans use it to keep things ice cold.” The scientist spun around, and started to walk off happily, “It is just this way, if you’d follow me~!” She sang.

Chara frowned, glaring at the manual, “Where is it?!”

The monster stopped and tilted her head, “I do believe I said it was this way…” The monster made a grand gesture, hinting the direction she was going.

“NO!” Chara stood and threw the manual down, “NOT SOME STUPID FREEZER! I mean the thing, the skeleton baby thing!”

The monster frowned and thought before looking up, “Oh, that, you can have it actually, wait here.” She then turned and walked off, humming some stupid tune to herself. Chara will have to hurry, they didn’t want their mother to see them here. They loved the Dreemurrs, and didn’t want to upset Toriel more.

 

* * *

 

“So, this is it,” Toriel said, looking around the lab. She was scanning everything in silence. There were a few times her large paw like hands wandered close to the seams in the walls where his hidden storage spaces are. But they, luckily, always missed the hidden spots.

“Yes, your majesty,” Gaster replied.

She walked over to the crib, or pen, that Sans was in just moments before. Looking it over, she glanced at Gaster. “Just Toriel, Gaster. And this is for?” She asked, still angry but a hint of calm seeping into her tone.

“I had been considering injecting DT, or human determination, into other, non-monster, life forms. I would need to hold them somewhere for observation. But, I still don't know the effects it would have on them. As much as I desire to know how to create an artificial human soul, so we can escape, torturing helpless creatures is not part of that plan,” Gaster frowned as much as his face would allow. Looking back at Toriel he continued, “I don't wish to justify the negative connotation humans placed on our kind. I may be a monster, but I’m not _their_ monster.”

The goat monster looked at him a moment, then smiled, “I don't believe you are, either.” She then tapped the book case, “This?”

“My current shelves are getting packed. I need space for more books.”

Toriel frowned, “You could have asked my husband. In Home, where Asgore and myself previously lived, is a far better bookcase than this. And since we moved it is getting no use.”

“Maybe next time,” Gaster offered a smile.

Toriel looked around then leaned on her elbows against the bookshelf. No surprise, with her standing roughly 7 feet tall, it barely came up to her chest. There was still something angry about the way she was looking at him, but she has relaxed. That didn’t ease any of the stress of having her stare at him though.

Needing to break the awkward silence he started to speak, but she beat him to it, “What happened to your hand?”

“What?” He should have known…

“I heard about your hand being hurt in a lab accident. But no one can tell me what exactly happened. I kept asking Asgore to ask you during one of your meetings, but he’d always forgot, bless his soul,” she smiled as she mentioned her husband. There was a hint of blush showing through her fur. It faded though as she refocused while tapping on the bookcase, “The only thing that makes sense is that you did it here, where no one witnessed the accident and you keep what you do secret.”

Yup, he should have known. Toriel, the brains behind the throne, would not let such details slide like Asgore. It is most likely thanks to her advice, Asgore has overfilled Gaster’s staff.

“That would be correct, I was making a machine to collect samples and it went off,” he leads her over to where most of his machines have been stored. He showed her the one he used to harvest his own materials, “There is still much we can learn from the underground’s environment. This is for creating smaller samples, to experiment with, from something already collected. Or, cut into something with a hard shell.” He held up his damaged hand, showing off the blatant hole in the middle, “And I can guarantee it is sharp.”

Toriel looked at it, then some of the other machines. He tried not to flinch as she tapped a claw against the tank that once held Sans when he was still developing. She then looked at Gaster, “I know you're hiding something. You're not your normal, boisterous, self. But currently, I don't see anything too suspicious; and, well, maybe I’m stuck in the past, but I still trust you.” There was a saddened look on her face, “After Verdana died, and her being one of my best friends, I felt I should keep an eye on you since you were her husband. But I feel I failed because of all of this.” She accented the ‘this’ by sweeping her arms to the side, indicating everything in the room.

“Toriel,” he started to say more but she stopped him.

“Gaster, please just promise me that you will do nothing that would make you feel ashamed to tell Verdana.”

Placing his right hand on his sternum he nodded, “I promise, Toriel.”

“And Gaster?”

“Yes?”

She gave him a sly smile, “Think before you threaten a child. Or next time there will be less talking and more fire. Also, stop hiding away, or someone maybe believe you’re hiding _skeletons in your closet_.”

Gaster laughed, hoping his nervousness at that pun didn't reflect in his voice. To help deflect attention he offered up one of his own, “A shame, if they got to know me, they'd know they could _see right through me_.”

“Hmmm, well _clearly_ you’re not that _see through_.”

 

* * *

 

As Gaster and Toriel made their way through the True Lab toward the exit, exchanging witty word play, they saw Dr. M. R. walking Chara out as well. In Chara’s hand was a small skeleton figurine with a large wiggly head. The human visibly winced upon seeing the queen, and looked away as if ashamed.

“Chara?” Toriel said, looking surprised to see her adopted child here, “I thought I told you to stay home, what are you doing here?”

“Mother, I,” Chara started, then looked away, “I’m sorry, Mother.”

The boss monster sighed and reached a hand out towards Chara, “Come along, child. Let’s go home. Your brother and father are waiting for us, I’m sure.”

Gaster saw them the rest of the way out before turning back and seeing Dr. M. R. standing there, watching him. Even though it was now late in the day, and some of the workers were on their way home, they opted out of talking for now. This was still too public of an area for the matters they both wanted to discuss. They returned to the True Lab and walked down the hall to the A wing.

Once he felt no one could over hear them, he looked at the other scientist. She seemed to have kept his son safe, and he will have to repay her for that. “Thank you,” He started with that.

“You’re welcome. Though, maybe, you should find a better means to transport a baby. Cute little thing he is,” She looked at Gaster, then straight ahead. “I’ve had time to think about where he came from. Honestly, I’m stumped, though I have a theory.”

“Oh?” Gaster was amused by this, “And what might that be?”

“I have heard of cloning; though, he doesn’t seem to be a complete clone, but a monster made by means close to that. Although, that is more science fiction than science fact. But then… the fiction often precursors the facts,” she said, then hummed thoughtfully. “Add in the mysterious injury you suffered, and things are highly suspicious that this child was made by less than normal means.”

“If I were to say you were correct, I’d have to ask, what would you do then?” Gaster asked, hands in his pockets. They stopped outside of lab 1-A, looking at each other.

“I’d ask what you plan on doing with him,” she replied with a hint of dark undertone.

Gaster smiled, or well, smirked. Where had this scientist been all this time? No one else had the gull to question him, in fear of his wrath. But even though he may yell and throw a fit at someone for doing so, he always looked favorably on the ones that did. Here, hidden away in a section rarely used, for a department that was meant to be fictitious, was the sort of lab assistant he always wanted. Without getting to know her, he tried to make her quit.

But she didn’t. (Being a monster of high perseverance himself, he respected any monster like her.)

“And if my answer would hurt him, or treat him as a thing?” He asked.

“They’ll never find your dust,” the singing way of speech disappeared, and there was a hissing growl as she spoke.

“His name is Sans. He was originally created to be a living weapon, but I realized he was not a tool but a living being. Thus, he is now my son,” He then looked around the hall. “Soooo, where is he?”

“OH!” The lizard monster waved and said cheerfully, “If you would follow me!”

They enter a small room with a sink, table and chairs, and a large white rectangular object. He remembered this used to be a break room, back when this wing was primarily used.

“This,” she said with a dramatic flair, “is a freezer, a human invention with the single purpose of keeping things frozen or freezing the non-frozen. It is also airtight, to keep the cold in and the hot out. And it is the last place one would put a baby, unless said baby didn't require air or heat to survive.”

Gaster opened the freezer door and saw his son, completely bundled up, lying on a shelf. Sans squinted his eye sockets, adjusting to the light. Wiggling an arm free, the small skeleton reached for his father, with a pleading look in his sockets.

“Granted, I am also aware being too cold, while not harmful, can be uncomfortable. Which is why the freezer is not plugged in,” Dr. M. R. added.

Lifting his child out of the appliance, he held Sans close to warm him up. Though Sans clung to him tightly, seeming done with all of this, the child was unharmed. “Again, thank you,” Gaster said as they walked out of the room.

“May I ask you something?” Dr. M. R. again sounded serious, before Gaster could reply she continued, “What now?”

“Well, I was planning on moving into this section with my son. And now that you know about him, I suppose we need to keep tabs on you as well,” Gaster thought on this. It would be nice having someone who could watch after Sans while he was doing other work. And this scientist seemed like a good option, “Anyway, I have a task I need to work on concerning the CORE, but after that, I would be interested to learn more about what you are working on.”

“Sounds wonderful, Doctor. Is there anything I can do to help?” The lizard monster reached over and lightly pet the small skeleton on the back of the skull.

“How much do you know about the CORE?”

“I studied it a lot when I was in school.”

The two started walking into lab 1-A, Gaster smiling, “Then, Dr. R. I do believe I have use of you!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure Chara can understand how [this lady](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXOjyv4d998) is feeling right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya, so you're at the end. Welp, this will be updating slower than The Door, but it will update. As I said earlier, there is no need to read The Door if you don't want to. At some point they will cross paths and I'll figure out how I'll work that out later. May just post what you need from The Door here.


End file.
